Hydrates are a group of molecular complexes referred to as clathrates or clathrate compounds. Many of these complexes are known involving a wide variety of organic compounds. They are typically characterized by a phenomenon in which two or more components are associated without ordinary chemical union through complete enclosure of one set of molecules in a suitable structure formed by the other. A gas hydrate may thus be regarded as a solid solution in which the hydrocarbon solute is held in the lattice of the solvent water.
Methane and other hydrocarbons are known to react with liquid water or ice to form solid compounds that contain both water and individual or mixed hydrocarbons, which are a form of hydrocarbon hydrates. These gas hydrates vary in composition depending upon the conditions, but two compositions that may form are as follows:
CH.sub.4 5.75H.sub.2 O and C.sub.3 H.sub.8 17H.sub.2 O
It has been predicted that enormous amounts of methane hydrates are located on the ocean floor at certain sites. See, e.g., Richard Monastersky "The Mother Load of Natural Gas, " 150 Science News 298 (1996).
If the methane hydrates under the ocean could be efficiently and effectively removed in the form of gas, a tremendous source of fuel would be available to mankind. Efforts made to develop methods and apparatuses for the removal of such hydrates have had shortcomings and appear to have rendered hydrate removal impractical or uneconomical.